Tel Aviv [Israel] February 21 : Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday ordered Israel's military to conduct operations in the occupied West Bank after three empty buses exploded, in a suspected terror attack, near Tel Aviv last night.
No casualties were reported and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, which occurred when explosive devices planted on the empty vehicles detonated in quick succession in the cities of Bat Yam and Holon, south of Israel's financial centre.
In Bat Yam, two bombs exploded on buses parked in a depot on Thursday night, authorities said. A third blast was reported in Holon from an explosive device planted on a third bus.
CNN reported that Israel stepped up security and halted bus and train operations across the country following the blasts, which a statement from Netanyahu's office called an "attempt to perpetrate a chain of mass bus bombings." Netanyahu "ordered the IDF to carry out an intensive operation against centres of terrorism," in the West Bank, according to the statement.
"The Prime Minister also ordered the Israel Police and the Israel Security Agency to increase preventative activity against additional attacks in Israeli cities," it added.
Prior to Netanyahu's statement, Israel's Defence minister Israel Katz had said that he instructed the IDF to ramp up its operations in the West Bank.
"In light of the severe terror attack attempts [in the Tel Aviv area] by Palestinian terror organizations against the civilian population in Israel, I instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of the counterterrorism activity in the Tulkram refugee camp, and all the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria," he said in a statement cited by the Times of Israel.
The bus blasts came just hours after Palestinian militant group Hamas returned four bodies purported to be hostages held in Gaza since its October 7, 2023 attack.
The bodies were handed over as part of a ceasefire deal enacted last month that has appeared shaky in recent weeks as Israel and Hamas accused each other of violations.
Israel has already accused Hamas of violating the deal on Thursday by returning remains in one casket that were found not to match with any hostage. These blasts come at a background of revitalised support for US President Donald Trump's Gaza Strip takeover plan.
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